If the Shoe Fits
By Grant Gaines
If you’ve been alive for more than 10 minutes you’ve likely heard the popular saying, “Walk a mile in another man’s shoes”. The meaning behind this idiom is that you can’t judge someone’s thoughts, actions, or words unless you know everything thing that is going on in their life. To apply this cultural proverb in a metaphorical sense is wise, but have you ever actually tried to physically wear someone else’s shoes for a day?
Maybe you ran out of the house, ran out of time, or ran out of money and needed to borrow someone’s shoes. Whatever your reason was, you found yourself squeezing into a size 11 when you normally wear a size 12. Initially, you got around just fine. Sure, they may have felt a little tight but that slight discomfort was easily blocked out as you strolled around town. But give it a couple of hours and your tolerance level quickly shifted from slight discomfort to I-got-to-get-these-things-off…now!
Not only is wearing someone else’s shoes uncomfortable, it also leaves you with a tremendous amount of blisters and significantly increases your risk of injury. The searing pain and tenderness shooting through your foot will remind you of one simple fact: you can’t wear someone else’s shoe—you have to go with your own size if you want to have any level of comfort and health. No matter how much a pair of shoes can help someone run faster and jump higher, if they aren’t your size, they can’t help you. The same pair of shoes that helps someone win an Olympic gold medal in the 100 meter dash can slow you down if they are the wrong size.
As obvious as this is to us when it comes to shoes, many Christians tend to make the same mistake spiritually. We try to fit our unique, God-ordained personality into a one-size-fits-all quiet time model that works for someone else. We see someone who is mature in their relationship with Christ and just start doing whatever they do assuming that we will get the same results. But just as this approach doesn’t work when it comes to wearing someone else’s shoes, it doesn’t work when it comes to our relationship with God.
In fact, there’s a pretty cool story in the Old Testament that displays this principal perfectly. It’s the account of David and Goliath…ever hear of it? Of course you have! But right before this iconic underdog story is where we will camp at today.
To set the scene for you, David just gave his best sales pitch to King Saul as to why he—a young, lanky, teenage boy—should be the one to go fight Goliath—the towering, muscular, and intimidating giant. Apparently David would have made a good salesman because despite the staggering differences in stature and status, Saul gave David the green light to enter the battle.
But before David left Saul’s tent, Saul wanted to make sure David had the best chance of survival as possible. So, “…Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. ‘I cannot go in these,’ [David] said to Saul, ‘because I am not used to them’…” (1 Samuel 17:38-39, NIV).
Much like David we too are entering into a battle. David fought against Goliath while we are fighting against, “…evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12, NLT). And just like the soon-to-be-king David, we too need to armor up every day. But don’t miss the point of this story—you can’t wear someone else’s armor as your own just because it worked for them, you must find what works for you.
Saul offered David his armor because it’s what had protected him in the past but David could hardly walk around let alone fight in it. “…So [David] took [the armor] off. Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine” (1 Samuel 17:39-40, NIV).
David took off Saul’s armor because it didn’t fit him and look at the results—Goliath tumbled, Philistia fell, and the Israelites raised their voices in shouts of victory to the Lord.
I wonder if you have any “armor” that you need to take off in favor of your own armor. Maybe you’ve just always done what your mom, pastor, or friend did because it worked for them. But God has, “…fearfully and wonderfully…” (Psalms 139:14, NIV) made you in a unique way that cannot be imitated nor duplicated. You are different from your mom, pastor, and friend and will therefore connect with God in different ways than them.
Should you learn from others who are more advanced in their faith than you? Absolutely! My warning to you is not to shut yourself off from seeking Biblical and godly wisdom—that would fly in the face of the entire book of Proverbs! Instead my hope in writing this is to encourage you to experiment with your time spent with God—get creative, have fun! Don’t just take a cookie-cutter quiet time model that you learned from some dusty old book ten years ago—be yourself, be who God made you to be! He can keep up with you if you want to stay up late, wake up early, or take a lunch break to talk to Him. He wants you to be you and the only way you can do this is if you wear your own “armor” and own “shoe”.
Comments? Questions? Suggestions?
©Grant Gaines 2013
